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This March Madness Bracket Changes the Channel

Connecticut's Alex Oriakhi loses the ball as Kentucky's Josh Harrellson defends during an NCAA Final Four semifinal game in 2011. Photo: David J. Phillip/Associated Press

The NCAA basketball tournament is always chaotic on the court. It’s chaotic for fans, too. Last year, early rounds in the men’s tournament were spread over four networks. It’s hard enough to keep up with who’s playing, what’s happening and how the games relate to one another without needing a channel guide along with your tournament bracket.

This year, Comcast’s Xfinity TV Sports Remote app for iOS blends the bracket and the remote. It lets viewers on Comcast’s network navigate between games across divisions and networks using a familiar interface. On the iPad app, it’s a full, continually updated interactive bracket with all 67 games in the tournament, from the First Four to the NCAA championship. At home, you can track scores and teams, switch directly to live games, drill down for more information or set a DVR to record games in advance.

Xfinity also has a microsite where remote subscribers can stream all 67 NCAA games, whether they’re airing live on CBS or one of three Turner channels: TNT, TBS or the upstart TruTV. (Women’s tournament games are likewise available, through ESPN and its networks.)

Even though a chunk of the games are on cable networks only, you don’t have to be a Comcast, or even a cable, subscriber to watch online. The NCAA is offering its own March Madness Live subscriptions to watch all 67 games on your computer, phone or tablet for just $3.99.

When it comes to sports streaming, Apple’s gadgets get all the love; only “select Android phones” are supported by March Madness Live. Xfinity TV Sports is iOS-only.

But I think Comcast’s app is more interesting than just employing mobile platform or web streaming. (All that we’ve seen before.) Instead, it’s a real two-screen experience, one that understands that we use our second, mobile screens for lots of different tasks — watching games while away from the living room, planning our schedules, using them as smart remotes, and especially organizing and keeping tabs on information.

That’s what sports is; it’s not just spectacle, but spectacle with structure and consequences. The more ways we can leverage digital technology to augment that experience, the better.